Friday, 31 August 2012

Q: Since thunder and lightning are electrical events, why are they so often accompanied by heavy rain?

A: The electrical activity that manifests itself as lightning is generated by the airborne water.

The thunder is sound waves resulting from the extreme heat of the lightning.

As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains, the three ingredients necessary for a thunderstorm are moisture; rising, unstable air; and a lifting mechanism, like hills or mountains or just the collision of masses of warm, wet air and cold, dry air.

When water vapour condenses into a cloud and rises into colder upper regions of the sky, some of it turns into ice crystals, usually with a positive charge, and some becomes water droplets, usually with a negative charge.

When the charges are strong enough, the electricity is dis­charged as a bolt of lightning.While some lightning often pre­cedes rain, the main event occurs as a downdraft starts and rain or other precipitation falls.

Eventually, the downdraft over­comes the updraft and the storm dissipates, along with the light­ning.Lightning benefits the earth, keeping its electrical charge in balance and generating protect­ive ozone, the National Severe Storms Laboratory explains. (It also points out that there is no such thing as lightning without thunder, often called heat light­ning; the thunder is simply too far away to be heard.)

Circuits around the world regularly echo to the earsplitting howl of racing V10s and V12s at full throttle. But perhaps, not for much longer.

Motorsport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, or FIA, has announced plans for a brand new motor racing series, designed exclusively for electric cars.

The new championship, known as Formula E, is due to begin in 2014.

Manufacturers are being invited to design and build their own cars, which will race on city-centre circuits around the world.

It will be run by Formula E Holdings, a consortium of investors led by the Spanish billionaire Enrique Banuelos, who made his fortune in real estate and agribusiness.

The FIA says it represents "a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades".
Four-wheeled bicycles

The thinking behind the series is simple: electric cars have an image problem, and the series' backers think motor racing can help to resolve it.

Until recently, battery cars were simply impractical. They were slow, heavy and expensive and had very limited range between charges.

That situation is now changing, with the launch of models such as the Nissan Leaf and Ford Focus Electric, which have reasonable performance and batteries which can cope with longer journeys.

But sales remain very sluggish. In the US, nearly 13 million cars were sold last year, but fewer than 20,000 were electric.

Cars such as the electric Nissan Leaf can cope with longer journeys "Electric cars haven't been cool up until now", says motor industry analyst Jay Nagley, who runs the cleangreencars.co.uk website.

"Until the Nissan Leaf came along they were basically four wheeled bicycles, with a battery pack and a terrible safety record. So there is a need to change the image."

But can motorsport help to make electric cars sexy? One man who thinks so is British businessman, part time racing driver and former government minister Lord (Paul) Drayson

His company, Drayson Racing Technologies, has spent the past two years developing an electric racing car, and he is acting as scientific adviser to the new championship.

"This gives us the perfect way to showcase the performance of electric cars", he says.

Formula E investors are led by Spanish billionaire Enrique Banuelos "People think they're slow. We will show that it's possible to do 200 mph, or 0-60 in three seconds.

"Our ultimate goal is to create a sporting spectacle which is both sustainable and exciting".
He believes the series will not only promote electric cars, but help to develop them as well - making road cars better.

"A lot of research and development still needs to take place, and motorsport has always been a tremendous driver of R&D", he says.

"Many of the things we take for granted on our road cars started out on a racing car. Even the humble rear view mirror was first fitted to a race car in the US in the 1920s."
Fast but silent

Yet the idea of electric motorsport has plenty of critics. They claim that electric cars lack something which motorsport fans yearn for - noise, and plenty of it.

But according to Lord Drayson, they're missing the point.
"What we're trying to do is create a new racing experience. It will be a different type of car, racing through the city streets, before new audiences, in places where we haven't raced before."

He believes that while older fans may lament the lack of a howling exhaust note, young people simply won't notice.

Even the most sophisticated electric racing cars have some limitations Chris Aylett, the chief executive of the Motorsport Industry Association agrees.

"It will be a very trendy, very modern, futuristic form of racing", he says.
"We're not talking about appealing to the grey market with these cars. We're looking at the 15 year old today who will be tomorrow's car buyer".

This isn't the first time that motorsport has attempted to embrace environmentally-friendly technologies.
This year's Le Mans 24 hours was won by a diesel-electric hybrid, while Formula One cars have been using energy recovery systems for the past two years. Technically, that makes them hybrids too.

But the new series is certainly a radical venture. And in order to get around some of the limitations which affect even the most sophisticated electric cars, it has had to embrace some very radical ideas.

The batteries in the new cars are expected to run down relatively quickly. So when a driver comes into the pits, he won't just change his tyres.

He'll change the whole car - swapping it for a new, and fully charged machine.

Thursday, 30 August 2012

Your mobile phone may soon be charging itself while you talk, powered up by a new kind of chip that can harvest electricity. It converts "waste" electromagnetic radiation directly into power and the technology will deliver a new kind of highly efficient solar cell.

"It is energy harvesting from electromagnetic waves," explains Prof Vojislav Krstic, of Trinity College's school of physics and principal investigator at Crann nanotechnology research centre.

He heads the nano and magnetoelectronics research centre there. "We are looking into advanced materials and their electronic properties," he says. Crann also happens to be a world leader in the production of nanotech structures, and his team can characterise their electrical properties, using funding from Science Foundation Ireland's Technology Innovation Development Award programme. He called one such structure a "forest". It is formed from pure nickel metal but instead of trees it sports antennas. And in keeping with its nanotech connections, these antennas are minute.

Just 1sq cm can hold 100 million of these antenna "trees", and these are the devices that deliver the power.

At least, this time around it should be a real car. The last G-Wiz exploited a loophole in the law that meant it could be sold as a quadricyle (four wheeled motorised bicycle) to gullible motorists who did not realise that they were paying the price of a car for something that did not have to meet any of the safety standards of an actual car. For anyone who assumed the G-Wiz was not too bad, here is the damning evidence.

The makers of the G-Wiz were bought by Indian conglomerate Mahindra, who also own SsangYong, in 2010 and are talking up the prospects of the new car. We don't know about the car, but Mahindra is well up to western standards when it comes to management jargon.

Anand Mahindra, group chairman, said. "We firmly believe that the automobile industry is at an inflection point that will re-shape the way we own and use mobility solutions. This change is being driven by rapidly changing customer needs and dramatic advancements in automotive technologies, including the growing influence of electronics and IT in automobile products and solutions," he said.

However, the new car, code-named NXR, does have some interesting features, including 'Quick2Charge', which gives a 25 km range after a 15 minute charge, 'Sun2Car', a solar charging system and 'Car 2 Home' by which the car can power a house – presumably intended for India's frequent power blackouts.

The new car is expected to launch in India later this year, with European sales following in 2013.

Wednesday, 29 August 2012

There have been plenty of cool new innovations introduced to vehicles over the last few years – but it almost seems unthinkable that a mainstay like the rear-view mirror may be reaching the end of its run.

Yet that might just be the case if the new Audi R8 E-Tron is anything to go by

The electric car, due to enter small-scale production this year, has no rear window and no conventional rear-view mirror. Instead it uses a digital rear-view mirror with a control unit that produces a high contrast image and prevents dazzle from the headlights of other vehicles. The driver is able to dim or deactivate the display at any time.

In addition, a small camera is located in an aerodynamically optimised housing and uses a lens to cover a much larger field of vision than a traditional rear-view mirror.

Meanwhile, in place of a conventional rear-view mirror is a 7.7inch screen that displays the digital image data from the camera.

The new displays are said to be more energy efficient, thinner and lighter than LCD monitors.
The digital rear-view mirror also appeared in the Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro that was used in the Le Mans 24Hrs Race.

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

The Evora 414E certainly shows a lot of potential, the company hasn’t committed to building it on yet but rumors of Infiniti Emerg-E and Alpine Renault abound

One of the most puzzling question is why hasn’t Lotus made an electric car, or at least a plug-in hybrid?

They have everything going for them, the right philosophy of lightness and robustness, the right racing heritage and experience building light, fast and competitive cars for other makers. In fact, Lotus is no stranger working with different carmakers, having borrowed classic Renault gearboxes and engines to power its first road units. So why have they not given the obvious, a light electric car, EV or plug-in hybrid, PHEV?

They Have, And They Haven’t. Lotus is still playing coy when it comes to committing to building an electric car or plug-in hybrid. The prototype Lotus Evora 414E certainly packs interesting features and shows not only interest form the company but a realistic platform.

Monday, 27 August 2012

Fire Safety Legislation for England and Wales changed in 2006, with the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Similar legislation is in place for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Fire Safety Order does not specify what signs are required, but it does place a great number of responsibilities on the ‘Responsible Person’ for the building, be it a workplace or not. Apart from domestic premises, ships, aircraft, trains, offshore rigs and a few other exceptions, then it applies everywhere.

What the Fire Safety Order does specify is that the responsible person must make and give effect to such arrangements as are appropriate, for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the preventive and protective measures.

This is where we really discover the need for signs, whether they are for Fire Doors, Fire Alarms or Call Points.

There is no need for a small sign above 9Ltr Extinguisher stating ‘Fire Extinguisher’, because you have seen the appliance before you see the sign; however, if the extinguisher, hose reel etc is hidden in an alcove or cupboard, then a clear sign showing the location is definitely required.

Equally, signs proclaiming the location of Call Points help them stand out amongst other items, but they must be placed where they provide the greatest value, not immediately above the little red box. If your workplace uses different audible alarms or flashing beacons for different reasons, it’s probably a good idea to place a sign next to the one which is the Fire Alarm, to prevent confusion.

Sunday, 26 August 2012

Clay-cored electric heaters are not a “new system”, and advertising used to market them is frequently misleading. All electrical resistance heaters cost exactly the same to run, because 100 per cent of the electrical power is converted into heat. Any claim that these radiators use 30- 40 per cent less electricity to heat a room cannot be true.

a storage heater over 10 years old may not have as good quality insulation, so if you work and come home to a cold house, you may consider an upgrade but as we said - All electrical resistance heaters cost exactly the same to run, because 100 per cent of the electrical power is converted into heat, its up to you to use the energy / heat efficiently

Saturday, 25 August 2012

A report from the U.K. Government highlights that for millions of U.K. energy consumers, the level of usage is worse than previously thought. The study is the first of its kind in the U.K. to measure and monitor electricity in real-time, real-life situations.

The study analyzed data from 251 monitoring systems in owner-occupied households to see exactly what is happening with energy use within the home, including what electrical items are being used, how much power they use, when they are using it and for how long.

The analysis revealed a growing attachment to technology. For example, residents of the U.K. are watching 10 billion hours more television than originally thought, which brings with it huge amounts of energy consumption.

Environment Minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach said in a statement, "Manufacturers need to develop more energy-efficient electrical products and help consumers save money and the environment. We can all do simple things like switching off our televisions, computers and other home electronics and save up to £85 on electricity bills each year."

The 300 members of ParalympicsGB have been warned about the dangers of ''boosting'', an illegal practice of hurting themselves to create an adrenalin rush to enhance performance at the Paralympic Games.

''It is like doping and some people are prepared to (do it to) cheat,'' said the ParalympicsGB chef de mission Craig Hunter of the practice which involves extreme measures such as strangling their own testicles, breaking bones, stimulating muscles with electric shocks or blocking catheters.

''We run an education programme for athletes and our athletes are fully aware we do not encourage boosting in any way shape or form.''

The resulting pain from self-inflicted injuries boosts blood pressure, heart rate and adrenalin levels in athletes with spinal cord damage much the same way as doping practices, says Hunter.

The International Paralympic Committee has been aware of the practice – technically called induced autonomic dysreflexia – for nearly 20 years and have introduced blood pressure tests in the warm up areas before competition to try and stamp out the practice.

Officials say they will withdraw anyone right up to the moment of competition at the London Paralympics if they believe their blood pressure is at dangerous levels. Extreme blood pressure could induce a heart attack or stroke.

Friday, 24 August 2012

Scientists claim to have developed a unique technique to harness electricity from a bacteria eating virus to power your mobile phones. A team at the University of California, Berkeley are using the virus known as M13 bacteriophage to replace toxic elements used to charge the cell phones.

The virus possesses a property known as piezoelectricity, which means it can translate mechanical energy into electrical energy

Researchers believe the discovery could pave way for mobile phones that can be charged while you walk and replace the toxic piezoelectric elements already used in mobile phones. Most mobile phone microphones are piezoelectric because they need to convert energy from sound waves into electrical output that can be transmitted and then translated back into sound waves at the other end of the line.

These piezoelectric components are made out of heavy, toxic metals such as lead and cadmium, according to bioengineer Seung-Wuk Lee. M13 bacteriophage has the ability to generate electricity when compressed without the involvement of any toxic chemicals.

Lee and his colleagues found that the pencil-shaped M13 virus is potentially a perfect energy source because the virus is not harmful to humans. It is also cheap and easy to make to the extent that scientists can get trillions of viruses from a single flask of infected bacteria.

To improve the electricity generating power of M13, Lee's team tweaked the amino acid content of the virus's outer protein coat by adding four negatively charged glutamate molecules.

Janette Milne Pleads Guilty To Animal Cruelty After Letting Dog Eat Plug And Cable
A woman has admitted failing to seek veterinary attention for her dog who had to be put down after swallowing an electrical plug and cable.

The English bull terrier, named Henry, was put to sleep because by the time he saw a vet he could not be treated, the Scotland Charity for the Welfare of Animals (SPCA) said.

Janette Milne, 28, from Inverness, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering at the city's sheriff court and will be sentenced next month. She was prosecuted following a Scottish SPCA investigation.

Senior inspector Gill MacGregor said: "Henry was in extremely poor condition when I visited Milne's property in August 2011 and after being taken to a vet, an X-ray revealed he had ingested an electrical plug and cable.

"Milne had failed to seek the veterinary treatment Henry desperately needed and, as a result, he was caused a great deal of pain and suffering.

"Unfortunately, Henry's condition was so advanced that the vet had no option but to put him to sleep.

Thursday, 23 August 2012

UNLESS something goes wrong with your home's electrics (or you get them checked by an electrician, which you should do every 10 years), it's hard to know if they're safe or not, but this is something you don't want to take any chances with.

Not only should old-fashioned fuse boxes, sockets, switches and wiring be replaced, but you may need to do electrical work as part of big home improvements, such as fitting a new kitchen, converting the loft, or changing the use of a room.

While it may be necessary, changing the electrics can be very dirty and disruptive. If often involves gouging out plaster to create channels for the cables and taking up the floors, making it hard to continue living there while the work's being done.

You can legally do some minor electrical work yourself (see www.planning portal.gov.uk or ask your local council's building control department if in doubt), but it's generally a good idea to get a qualified electrician in.

The easiest option is to employ an electrician who belongs to a 'competent person scheme', such as NICEIC (you can search for registered electricians at www.niceic.com).

They can self-certify that their work complies with building regulations (Part P covers electrical work and applies in England and Wales).

If your electrician doesn't belong to a competent person scheme and the work they've done must comply with building regulations, you'll have to pay a building control officer from the council to inspect it.

a good sparky wont ask you to pay up front , not even for materials

If they want payment before the job's finished, the best option is to pay them in instalments when they meet agreed targets, so you're not paying them for work they haven't done.

When they've finished, ask them for a certificate to prove that the work is safe and legal (building control can also issue this), which you may need when you sell your home.

Wednesday, 22 August 2012

In terms of running costs there are significant differences between cooking gas or electric. Although electric cookers use fewer units of energy then gas, the price per unit of energy is more, so cooking electric will always be the more expensive option. As a direct price comparison, if you use your electric cooker including the oven and hob for around one and a half hours a day, then the annual dost will be around £100. If you used a gas cooker instead then the annual cost would be around £35.

The advantage of a gas hob over an electric one is that with gas you can get instant heat. A disadvantage is that gas hobs are more difficult to clean. There are several different types of electric hobs. These include solid-plate electric hobs, glass ceramic hobs, and induction hobs.

Ceramic hobs have a smooth surface and are very easy to clean. They also heat up relatively quickly (though not as fast as gas) and modern ones have reasonable distribution.

Induction hobs do not get hot; instead they heat up the cooking pan using electro-magnetic induction. The pan absorbs the electromagnetic field emitted by the hob and converts it into heat. This means that only certain types of cooking pans will work. They are also highly efficient as no waste heat is generated.
Electric plate hobs are now very dated and use solid electric plates or coils and use electrical resistance heating. They take a very long time to heat up and cool down and are very inefficient.

A disadvantage of a gas oven is that the oven is not heated uniformly and you can’t install a fan, so the top part of the oven will always be hotter than the bottom. Electric fan ovens heat up quickly and uniformly, and they also allow you to reduce your cooking temperature.

Many electric ovens allow you to select whether to provide heat from the top of the oven or the bottom. They even allow the fan to be used while food is being heated under the grill.

Many people chose to have cookers which combine gas hobs with electric ovens and thus they enjoy the best of both worlds in terms of the instant heat of a gas hob and the convenience of an electric oven.

make your own choice, I like the gas hob, electric oven but my misses is 'electric all the way' and we have to say, we have never seen a quality 'domestic' gas grill

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

A new survey published by Motor Trader and British Gas has revealed that UK car dealers believe that the majority of their customers are open to the idea of purchasing an Electric Vehicle (EV).

The research found that 32.9 percent of their customers would consider buying an EV at the moment, and a further 30.8 percent believed that customers would be more open to exploring EVs if they were provided with more information. On the flip side, less than a third of the dealers surveyed thought that their customers would not be at all receptive to EVs.

Commenting on the results, Dan Taylor, British Gas’s Director of New Ventures, said: “It’s encouraging to see two-thirds of dealers believe customers are receptive to buying an EV. People do have a massive issue with the rise in petrol and diesel prices over the last couple of years.”#

The survey also predicts that EVs could account for as much as 5 percent of the new car market by 2015, growing by between 6-20 percent to 2020.

The survey highlights that the public are willing to embrace EVs as part of the nation’s push to decarbonise its transport system. The development of a strong UK EV market should complement the UK PV market. A common criticism of EVs is that they still have to be charged using fossil fuel-generated electricity. However, a solar canopy can help charge EVs with carbon-free energy for a truly carbon-free journey.

Monday, 20 August 2012

Where the Regulations specify additional protection by RCD, does this include RCBOs?

Yes. Where the generic term ‘RCD’ is used, it refers to most types of residual current device including RCBOs (Residual current-operated circuit-breakers with integral overcurrent protection), RCCBs (Residual current-operated circuit-breakers without integral overcurrent protection) and SRCDs (Socket-outlets incorporating a residual current device). For the purposes of the Regulations, it does not include PRCDs (Portable residual current devices).

Sunday, 19 August 2012

Last year, GE and vertical axis wind turbine company Urban Green Energy announced the launch of the Sanya Skypump, a wind-powered charging station capable of recharging an electric car on wind energy alone.

Almost a year later, the two firms have just announced the official unveiling of the first Sanya Skypump to be installed in the world.

Located in Barcelona, Spain, the 4-kilowatt wind turbine looks like any other vertical axis wind turbine from a distance.

Get closer however, and you notice an electric car charging station neatly enclosed in the base of its 42-foot tower.

Although the turbine itself will generate electricity at wind speeds greater than 7 mph, it does need wind speeds of around 24 mph before it is generating 3 kilowatts, the power generally needed for the slowest level 2, 240-volt charging station.

At lower wind speeds, or higher level 2 charging loads, the Sanya Skypump can be connected to the grid to pull additional energy as required.

This makes it possible for the wind-powered charging station to offer up to 40 amps -- around 9 kilowatts -- of level 2 charging capability, despite a rated maximum wind turbine power output of 4 kilowatts.

Although the first to be installed since its launch, the Spanish Sanya Skypump won’t be the last.

Saturday, 18 August 2012

The team at General Motors China is hoping to make a significant breakthrough in the development of next generation battery systems for hybrid and electric cars as it begins testing prototype battery cells and systems in Shanghai.

It is believed that these systems have the potential to make batteries more affordable and assist with GM’s expanding vehicle electrification. It wants batteries that offer greater energy density and that will allow for smaller systems overall, while reducing costs.

Now researchers will be able to carry out a number of processes including battery material preparation, battery cell fabrication, battery material coating and battery cell performance testing. GM will also be able to test and validate materials from suppliers and apply innovative technologies to the cell design and fabrication.

Thanks to its expanded capability, GM hopes to establish new partnerships with battery cell suppliers and recently the GM China Advanced Technical Centre (pictured) produced its first batch of battery cells using these fabrication methods.

According to John Du, the director of GM China’s Science Lab, producing battery cells is a major step forward and critical towards allowing GM to develop smaller, lighter and low-cost batteries. He believes plug-in electric vehicles will play a key role going forward and that China, as the largest auto production market, is an obvious location at which to accelerate its battery development.

Friday, 17 August 2012

Electric cars finish in top tier of rescheduled Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Among the vehicles at this years Pikes Peak International Hill Climb were several electric cars, along with drivers and teams hoping to test electric vehicles with the race to the clouds. These teams included Toyota Motorsports Group, Mitsubishi, Elias Anderson (NovaKar), Michael Bream (EV West), Ikuo Hanawa (Ibaraki Japan Summit), and Nobuhiro Tajima (Monster Tajima). Of the electric cars that finished the race, three of them were within the top fifteen of all competitors.

The best times overall were Rhys Millen, 9:46.164 lap time, driving a Hyundai chassis, and Romain Dumas, 9:46.181 lap time, driving a Porsche chassis.

The top electric finisher, Fumio Nutahara, driving the Toyota Motorsports Group EV P002 electric race car. The EV P002 is built on a Radical race car chassis, and has pair of a axial flux electric motors with a top output of 350 kilowatts, with a predicted top speed of 150 miles/hr. Their lap time was 10:15.380, for an average speed of 70.201 miles/hr, which was good enough for a 6th place finish.

Not far behind was Hiroshi Masuoka driving the Mitsubishi i-MiEV Evolution, with a 10:30.850 lap time, average speed 68.479 miles/hr, good enough for 8th place. Masuoka crashed during practice, and the team performed a major reconstruction on site rebuilding the broken front end.

Coming in at 13th place was Elias Anderson, driving the NovaKar to a 11:00.857 lap time, average speed 65.370 miles/hr. The NovaKar is based on Jim Novak's F600 race car chassis, it has a 240hp electric motor and weighs 880lbs ready to race.

Today we are highlighting the dangers of electrocution and severe electric shock... aim = to cut the number of deaths and serious injuries in agriculture.

On average, two people are killed by electricity every year in agriculture in the UK, with many more injured or escaping with near misses, according to the Health and Safety Executive. In Cornwall there were two electricity-related fatalities on farms in 2011.

Top of the list of risks is overhead powerlines which can range from 230 to 400,000 volts and which remain the most common cause of accidents and deaths.

However, poorly maintained electrical installations and equipment can be lethal to those operating it as well as having the potential to cause fires, resulting in significant losses in buildings, equipment and livestock.

Farms are very dangerous places and there are lots of hazards which we’re not always fully aware of.

so there you have it - DONT always in a hurry to get a job done, usually influenced by the weather, and often we don’t stand back and look at the dangers involved.

There are several different types of cars that plug in, and their electric ranges vary.

In the early years, most charging will be done in garages attached to private homes.

You have to consider where and how you use your car(s) if you consider buying electric.

Electric cars are cheaper to “fuel” per than petrol cars, and they have a lower carbon footprint too—even on dirty grids.

Last year, roughly 17,000 plug-in cars were sold in the United States—more than were sold in any year since the very early 1900s. But to put that number in perspective, total sales in 2011 were 13 million vehicles, meaning that plug-in cars represented just one-tenth of 1 percent. Sales this year will likely be double or triple that number, but it remains a stretch to reach President Obama’s goal of 1 million plug-ins on U.S. roads by 2015.

The two main plug-in cars that went on sale last year, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, use somewhat different technologies, and this year will see a third variation arrive, the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid. Each works slightly differently, and their electric ranges vary considerably, roughly proportional to the size of their battery packs.

There will soon be more public charging stations than there are gas stations in the U.S. That’s a little deceptive, since most gas stations have a dozen or so pumps, while the electric-car charging stations have one or two cables. But it points out the relatively low cost and fast installation pace of charging stations, aided in some cases by Federal incentives.

Plug-in cars are not for everyone. They still cost more than the gasoline competition, though their running costs are far lower. And the limited range of battery electric cars may make them impractical for households with only a single vehicle. Range-extended electrics and plug-in hybrids solve that problem, but the complexity of two powertrains plus the pricey battery pack makes them more costly than regular hybrids.

Retail car buyers act irrationally. Often, we more car than we really need, and we also put too much weight on initial purchase price—or the monthly payment—and not enough on the total cost of ownership, including maintenance and fuel cost.

that may be about to change, after researchers developed a new transparent solar cell which means windows in homes and other buildings can have the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside.

The University of California, Los Angeles team describes a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC) that produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, making the cells nearly 70 per cent transparent

They made the device from a photo-active plastic that converts infrared light into an electrical current.

cool idea - smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other apps

PSCs are made from plastic-like materials and are lightweight and flexible and can be produced in high volume at low cost

A team of UCLA researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have demonstrated high-performance, solution-processed, visibly transparent polymer solar cells through the incorporation of near-infrared light-sensitive polymer and using silver nanowire composite films as the top transparent electrode.

The near-infrared photoactive polymer absorbs more near-infrared light but is less sensitive to visible light, balancing solar cell performance and transparency in the visible wavelength region.

Another breakthrough is the transparent conductor made of a mixture of silver nanowire and titanium dioxide nanoparticles, which was able to replace the opaque metal electrode used in the past. This composite electrode also allows the solar cells to be fabricated economically by solution processing.
With this combination, 4 per cent power-conversion efficiency for solution-processed and visibly transparent polymer solar cells has been achieved.

Sunday, 12 August 2012

In the Atlanta Games in 1996, the British team won a grand total of one gold medal, and 15 in all.
The following year, National Lottery funding was injected directly into elite Olympic sports for the first time.
The return was instant. In the Sydney Games of 2000, the British team won 11 golds - the first time Britain won more than 10 golds since the Antwerp Games in 1920 - and 28 medals in total.

Athens in 2004 saw a similar return, the last games before the Olympic Committee awarded the 2012 games to London.

Investment in Olympic sports in the UK immediately rocketed in preparation for the country's first games since 1948, and again the return was both immediate and spectacular - the British team won 19 golds and 47 medals in total in Beijing in 2008.

2012 - the results were obvious beating the Beijing total by day 11 with 5 more days of competition to go...

conclusion = if you want medals in Rio 2016, we need to keep investing in our sportsmen and women.

only 1445 days to wait n see!!!!

it will be harder next time as the last 4 years have been in global recession. if other conuntries invest more they will up thier game too.

there are some beautiful elecric cars out there if you have a bit set aside for a rainy day

only to the lucky few who can afford them.

Tesla Roadster
Tesla's Roadster used the light weigh concept of the Lotus elise and similar. $109,000, Tesla's Roadsters are limited to just 2,500 cars, with few remaining. According to the EPA, the electric sports car can travel 244 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery pack, and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds. As Tesla's supply of Lotus Elise gliders runs out under a contract with Lotus cars, the innovative automaker stopped taking orders in 2011. Just 15 Final Edition Roadsters were produced to close its manufacturing cycle, but Tesla's next generation of electric luxury vehicles is expected to be introduced in 2014 for about half the price of the original Roadster.

Fisker Karma
Launched last year in the US, Fisker Karma's plug-in hybrid luxury sports car runs around $102,000 to $116,000. With an electric range of 32 miles per charge, the total range with a full tank of gasoline and fully charged battery is 230 miles, according to the EPA. However, depending on conditions, the Fisker Karma could get up to 50 miles of driving range on a single charge. Its solar paneled roof not only aids in the recharging of its lithium-ion batteries, but also in cabin climate control. Additionally, the car comes with the offer of an extra set of solar panels for the garage at home to charge the Karma even more efficiently.

BMW i8 Series
You may recognize BMW's i8 hybrid electric from the last “Mission Impossible” film—a title not far off from the description of actually obtaining one of the $400,000 vehicles to be released in 2014. Pairing an electric motor with a 1.5-liter, turbocharged three-cylinder engine with 220 horsepower, the i8 can go from 0 to 62 mph in under five seconds. A perfect combination of efficiency with exhilaration, wrapped with an incredibly chic, glassy carbon fiber chassis, the i8 could potentially be the most desirable, sexy BMW in decades.

Rimac Concept One
The Rimac Concept One electric sports car is one of the world's most expensive, luxurious electric vehicles to date. Available to only the 88 drivers willing to pay nearly $1 million, the Concept One boasts a 92 kilowatt hour LiFeP04 battery system with a range of over 370 miles, competing against the likes of Tesla Motors. Sporting a 1,088 horsepower output and 250 kilowatt electric motors for each wheel, the Concept One is far from your father's electric car. Last year, the Croatian-built electric supercar was reported at being capable of going 0 to 60 in just 2.8 seconds. Back again today, the car was showcased at Top Marques Monaco, one of the world's most exclusive car shows.

Phantom 102EX Experimental Electric
Topping the list, Rolls Royce unveiled its first electric version of its Phantom model at the Geneva motor show in March, becoming the world's most expensive electric vehicle at a jaw-dropping $1.6 million. Through the end of the year, the vehicle will tour across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America to gauge the public's reaction. Presented to a selective clientele, Rock-It Germany will be responsible for the safe and on-time delivery of the six meter long, 2.7 ton vehicle to local dealers.

Saturday, 11 August 2012

More than a century old, the Morgan Motor Company is a small operation that survives today arguably through not trying to over-stretch itself.
Morgan is also a firm with a reputation for traditional values; its hand-built vehicles currently available to buy include the quite mad but incredibly fun 3 Wheeler, which harks back to its original three-wheeled road cars of the early 20th century. The signature 4-4, meanwhile, has hardly changed in its styling since the first one rolled off the production line in 1936.

So what, we wondered, is the pure-electric Plus E all about? It looks like a Plus 8, the 4-4’s big brother, which marries a BMW-supplied 4.8-litre V8 to a lightweight aluminium chassis – but its electric powertrain reminds us that Morgan isn’t afraid to look forward, as well as back.

“Actually, we started the electric car project in 2009 with the LIFEcar (Lightweight Fuel Efficient Car), which was a hydrogen fuel cell project,” Morgan’s Business Process Development Engineer Robert Gibson reminds us. “But that was a showcase of technology that was never meant to go into production. The whole point was to show what Morgan could do as part of a collaborative project; it was just there for the sake of being there, really. Plus E will be production-intent.”

At present, Morgan is still demonstrating the 2012 Geneva Motor Show car – stage 2 in the car’s evolution, Gibson tells us. Part-funded by the UK Government’s Niche Vehicle Network programme, this doesn’t just look like a Plus 8, it uses many of the same underpinnings including the aluminium body and chassis, suspension and axle. It also keeps the traditional Morgan wooden body frame.

However, the Zytek-manufactured drivetrain incorporates a 70kW (95hp) electric motor (ex-Modec) producing 300Nm of torque – that’s 20Nm more than the 2.7-litre flat six drivetrain found in the Porsche Boxster. The production Plus E will use a new motor, also from Zytek, which Gibson indicates will offer a 30 per cent further improvement in both power and torque. Removing the BMW-engined drivetrain means a dry weight saving of 400kg, plus 100kg of fluids, meaning the Morgan Plus E weighs the same as a Plus 8 (1,100kg) yet still holds enough lithium ion phosphate batteries for around 80-90 miles of driving range.

The main talking point for the Morgan Plus E, however, is its five-speed manual gearbox. Those familiar with electric vehicles know that their phenomenal torque, and the ability to spin the motor at high revs, mean that gearing isn’t strictly necessary. Drive most electric cars available today, which have one button to go forwards and one to reverse, and suddenly even a simple automatic shift starts to look overly complex.
“It’s about driver involvement,” says Gibson. “We wanted to take a step back from it and ask ‘what’s wrong with just using a normal manual gearbox?’. We have looked at using a sequential gearbox, but the problem is that you don’t get the correct driving characteristics that would suit a road car.”

The Plus E’s transmission is exactly the same as a five-speed manual found in a petrol or diesel; the motor is connected to a flywheel then the gearbox via a clutch, and you need to press the clutch pedal to change gear.

“When the motor’s spinning you need to be able to separate the drive from the gearbox,” explains Gibson. “The motor has quite high inertia so once you back off, it continues to spin for quite some time. I’ve driven the first car and it’s kind of strange, but also really intuitive at the same time, so it’s quite good fun.”
Quite good fun is probably an understatement. The huge torque, combined with low gearing and a lack of any kind of electronic traction control, mean it can be quite a handful – something to which anyone who caught the Plus E show car getting sideways off the start line at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb can attest.

“The company that supplies the batteries have done a few trials of their own hill climb version,” reveals Gibson. “It’s got an 80-mile range; they did a weekend of hill climbing and only used 20 per cent of the battery, so they were carrying around a lot of excess weight. So the potential is we could have an extremely lightweight version for motorsport.”
For those wanting the road version but worried about facing the wrong way every time they put their foot down, Gibson tells us the Plus E can be driven perfectly comfortably when locked in third gear. Probably just as well.

The Morgan Plus E is set for customer deliveries in 2015 and is targeted to cost no more than a 10 per cent premium over the Plus 8, which puts it at approximately £90,000. Ouch! better get saving!

The kitchen is the heart of the home where families and friends come to meet and eat but dirty and chaotic kitchens are not just a health hazard – they can also be a fire risk. Almost 13,000 [1] fires each year arise from the misuse of, and faults with, electrical cooking appliances.

Leading safety charity, the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) warns that over half of all accidental fires in UK homes – that’s more than 20,000 per year [2] - are caused by people’s casual attitude to electrical safety and misuse of electrical appliances.

“In our opinion – which is shared by the fire and rescue professionals we consulted - a considerable number of kitchen fires occur through a casual attitude to cleaning and safety in kitchens,” explains Martyn Allen, Head of Technical Development at the ESC. “And our research also indicates that over a quarter of Britons suspect at least one of their electrical appliances is faulty [3].”

Housekeeping guru Aggie MacKenzie agrees: “Allowing food and fat deposits to build up on cookers – or trailing leads across them - and using the tops of microwaves as extra storage and forgetting to remove things like tea towels draped over them, can all pose a safety risk. So clean up your act - or you could end up burning a lot more than your toast!”

“We live in an electric world, so it is understandable that people tend to take electricity for granted”, adds Martyn. “But that doesn’t mean we can forget basic safety precautions. And with an ever-increasing number of electric gadgets and cooking tools coming on to the market, we need to be a bit more safety conscious.”

Here’s the ESC’s three top tips for reducing the risk of an electrical fire in your home:1.Keep electrical appliances , particularly kitchen items such as cookers and microwaves, clean and free from grease.2.If an electrical appliance works erratically, has a flex or cable showing visible wear and tear, or you can smell burning when the appliance is in use, stop using it immediately.3.Avoid placing anything flammable too close to electric heaters, cookers or fires.

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

The majority of new parents are failing to do enough to protect children from electrical accidents, including relying too heavily on socket covers, according to a study.

While 74% of new parents believe their home is safe, 62% rely on socket covers and just 38% have a residual current device (RCD) to prevent fatal electric shocks and minimise fire, the survey for the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) found.

Although more parents use socket covers than baby monitors or stair barriers, regular sockets are generally safe and covers will not prevent a shock if the installation is not safe, the ESC said.
At least one person dies each week in their own home from an electrical accident, while 350,000 people are seriously injured each year, according to figures. Electrical accidents cause almost half of all house fires.
The ESC appealed to retailers, media and experienced parents to take responsibility for educating new parents about real electrical dangers and the importance of an RCD.

RCDs cut the electrical current if there is an unusual surge and offer better protection than normal fuses and circuit breakers, the ESC said.

ESC director general Phil Buckle said: "We have found that new parents have a worrying lack of knowledge about electrical safety issues. We aim to raise awareness of the hazards in the home and the simple steps that parents can take to both ensure the safety of their family and pass on this knowledge to their children as they grow up.

Scottish researchers say the precious metal could help radical new air breathing batteries store up to ten time more energy than today's batteries.

This could give electric vehicles huge ranges and boost their popularity dramatically - but make the batteries hugely expensive.

adding gold to the batteries of electric cars could dramatically increase their range

Researchers at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland admit an electric car battery made of gold would not be practical.

However, they hope that by using gold in key areas of the battery they can dramatically increase the car's range.

The Saint Andrews chemists, in a paper published in the journal Science, describe how an experimental lithium–air battery featuring an organic electrolyte and a porous gold electrode maintained 95 percent capacity after 100 charge–discharge–recharge cycles.

Lithium ion batteries currently used in electric vehicles can only be recharged a set number of times. However, researchers are working on new 'air breathing' batteries that do not suffer the same problem.

Monday, 6 August 2012

A light-absorbing midnight-black substance dubbed Aerographite has stolen the crown for the lightest material in the world, weighing just 0.2mg per cubic centimetre. And because of its special properties, it's a serious contender to build lithium-ion batteries small and light enough to power the electronic bikes and cars of the future.

Boffins in Germany constructed the new material by weaving together a network of porous carbon tubes at nano and micro level to create the stuff that is 75 times lighter than polystyrene.

"Think of the Aerographite as an ivy-web, which winds itself around a tree. And then take away the tree," said Prof Rainer Adelung of Kiel Uni.

The previous record-holder for lightest-ever stuff was also made of nanotubes – but those weren't porous, and were made of nickel rather than carbon, which made the material heavier. “The hitherto lightest material of the world, a nickel material that was presented to the public about six months ago, is also constructed of tiny tubes. Only, nickel has a higher atomic mass than carbon. Also, we are able to produce tubes with porous walls. That makes them extremely light," said co-author Arnim Schuchard, a PhD student at Kiel University.

Adelung and other researchers from Kiel Uni and the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) worked together to make the substance using a powdered zinc oxide.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

Scientists have developed a paint that can store and deliver electrical power just like a battery.

Traditional lithium-ion batteries power most portable electronics. They are already pretty compact but limited to rectangular or cylindrical blocks.

Researchers have come up with a technique to break down each element of the traditional battery and incorporate it into a liquid that can be spray-painted in layers on virtually any surface.

"This means traditional packaging for batteries has given way to a much more flexible approach that allows all kinds of new design and integration possibilities for storage devices," said Pulickel Ajayan, who leads the team on the project.

The rechargeable battery is made from spray-painted layers, with each representing the components of a traditional battery: two current collectors, a cathode, an anode and a polymer separator in the middle.
The paint layers were airbrushed onto ceramics, glass and stainless steel, and on diverse shapes such as the curved surface of a ceramic mug, to test how well they bond.

One limitation of the technology is in the use of difficult-to-handle liquid electrolytes and the need for a dry and oxygen-free environment when making the new device.

Friday, 3 August 2012

Cuts in its solar PV power feed-in tariff notwithstanding, renewable energy’s share of UK electricity output surged 39% higher to 11.1% in Q1 over the past year, according to the Dept. of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), as the British Isles continue to make rapid headway in meeting a goal of
15% renewable energy by 2020, Bloomberg reported this past week.

Overall, so-called “low carbon generation” made up 28.4% of UK electricity generation in Q1 as compared to 26.6% in the year-ago period, according to DECC, while total electricity output dropped 3.4%. End-user electrical power consumption fell 2.3%, with domestic use expanding 2%, service sector consumption up 3.1%, and industrial use down 8.6%.

Onshore wind was the fastest growing source of electrical power for the UK overall in Q1, jumping 51% to 3.55 Terawatt-hours (TWh), while offshore wind total rated capacity increased 49.8% to 1.49 TWh. Hydro power production also registered impressive gains, rising 43.5% to 1.86 TWh.

Thursday, 2 August 2012

From ESC 21 July 2011In the opinion of the Electrical Safety Council, there is no "significant risk" to children from 13 Amp socket-outlets fully conforming to the product standard BS 1363. Having integral safety shutters, they are widely judged to be of the safest design currently installed in Europe, and the Electrical Safety Council is not aware of any incident data to suggest that there is any real or potential problem with this type of socket-outlet.
This position has also been taken by the BSI technical committee responsible for BS 1363.

It is arguable that fitting a blanking plug into a socket-outlet will reduce the risk of electric shock to a child even further, since it will make access to electricity even more difficult. Whether it is justifiable to require their use in certain environments is less clear.

There is always some risk of electric shock with any electrical equipment and the decision on how much risk is acceptable is ultimately subjective. Absolute safety can be achieved only by the permanent removal of the electricity supply.

Babies and toddlers are inherently risk-prone and should never be left unattended and allowed to 'play' with socket-outlets. Eternal vigilance is the only reliable safeguard in this respect, as is the case with any other potential (and frequently much greater) hazard that they might encounter.

The London Olympics has just showcased the world's first live broadcast of the latest viewing technology - super hi vision, with pictures 16 times as sharp as HDTV and multi-channel surround-sound.

The BBC's media correspondent Torin Douglas considers its benefits and finds out what viewers think of it.
Ever since the first Olympic radio transmissions from Paris in 1924, broadcasters have used the Games to demonstrate the latest next-generation technology.

The 1948 London Games were the first to be televised in people's homes. The 1964 Games in Tokyo pioneered colour TV.

And in 1984 the Los Angeles Games were the first to be broadcast in High Definition, which eventually reached UK homes more than 20 years later.

The BBC is broadcasting more than 2,500 hours of high definition television during the Olympics Now, 64 years later, Olympic swimmers in London are again being televised using the latest technology.
Super hi vision, developed by the Japanese broadcaster NHK, provides ultra high definition pictures - 16 times as sharp as high definition images, which themselves are four times as clear as standard TV pictures.
The sound is much better too. HD surround-sound uses 5.1 channels and is very impressive. Super hi vision uses 22.2.

Tim Plyming, who leads the BBC's Olympic trials of the system, says they are building on the history of innovation at the event.

"The scale of the Olympics is a great testing bed," he explains.

"Most of the big leaps in technology that we've known - from black and white to colour and from standard definition to high definition, and now to ultra high definition - have all had their home at the Olympic Games."

Super Hi-Vision video equipment was developed and supplied by Japanese broadcaster NHK Plyming says the picture is so clear it is like looking through a glass wall into the stadium or aquatic centre. Other broadcasters claim it is a truly immersive experience that feels just like being there.

But others disagreed. "If it wasn't for the visionaries in broadcasting and video technology we would still be watching 405 line black and white television," declared one correspondent.
'Amazing'

But don't expect to find super hi vision on the high street soon. HD took more than 20 years to progress from the Los Angeles Olympics into UK homes, and the latest next-generation technology will not be available domestically for some years.

at first, it vehemently claimed there was no future with electric cars, then it proceeded to show us an e-tron electric vehicle, EV prototype that stopped everyone in their tracks. Then there were rumors of the possibility of production cars based on it. Then nothing. Finally, it will be coming sometime soon. Then rumors of a plug-in hybrid based on the e-tron… then nothing. Then an electric A3 e-tron… then nothing. And now for the grand finale, the fastest electric car lap at the famous Nurburgring. Audi, you spin my head around.

Audi’s Fastest EV. Audi wants to show us it is still working on pure electric cars. After Toyota’s purpose built EV P001’s record of 7 minutes and 47.79 seconds on the Nurburgring, Audi wanted to set the record straight with a lap record for a production electric car with its upcoming production release of its R8 e-tron electric vehicle. The R8 e-tron blasted the 12.92-mile lap in 8 minutes, 9.099 seconds, barely a second more than Toyota's. This comes right on the tail of the company’s win at Le Mans with its diesel-electric hybrid racers and an indication that the R8 e-tron family might be closer than we expect.

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

1962, a year which saw US President John F Kennedy and Russian President Nikita Khrushchev take the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis.

Harold Macmillan was prime minister, presiding over a period of renewed prosperity following the enforced frugality of the immediate post-war era. The annual inflation rate was 1.1%, compared with the current rate of 2.9% and unemployment was negligible.

The average house price stood at £2,670, the average yearly pay was £799 and a loaf of white bread which would cost 11.5d (4.5 p).

A pint of milk would have set you back 1 shilling 4d (6.5p) and a pint of beer 2 shillings 4d (11.5p).

The most popular baby names in 1962 were David and Susan

screen legend Marilyn Monroe was discovered dead in the bedroom of her Los Angeles home after an apparent overdose; Brazil retained the football World Cup, beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final in Chile and the first commercial communications satellite, Telstar, was successfully launched by the US.

The top-selling single in the UK in 1962 was the yodelling Frank Ifield's I Remember You. Cliff Richard was the golden boy of British pop, with The Young Ones and The Next Time/Bachelor Boy both topping the charts. The teddy boy look was de rigueur among young males, with tight jeans all the rage for both sexes. Meanwhile, Love Me Do, the debut single by little-known Liverpool band the Beatles limped into the charts at number 17.